I do agree with the Splinter Cell series yeah.

Although I’m confused, why did you include Nier Replicant and Automata? Automata has already a complete version, and Replicant already had a remaster/remake/director’s cut version 3 years ago.

And there were some really great levels in the campaign, that was a fun game

You’re correct. In addition you could strafe using left/right C buttons, and you could look up/down using up/down C buttons, but that was awkward and not really designed to aim.

But we also must remember that those games had an auto lock system. Your character would actually target the ennemies by himself, you would only use the crosshair to dona headshot when you have time to aim, or to aim at a specific object in the game.

But yeah, that seems so clunky compared to what we have today

You said it yourself: you had spent a lot of time learning the patterns, but had grown frustrated by that time. Basically you’d have two choices

• what you did, and finish the fight easily using summons (which is easy only because you already spent a lot of time learning the boss)
• decide to do it without summon, and maybe have the satisfaction to win without help, or submit yourself to too much frustration, rendering the victory meaningless because at the end it had become a chore, and not fun at all.

At the end of the day, the most important element is to have fun. But even with summons, victory is never underserved, those games are still brutal.